Rugby fans head for Paris

The first of a vast army of English rugby fans have headed for Paris by train and boat and plane for Saturday's vital World Cup semi-final with France.

And with England's footballers due to take on Estonia in a Euro 2008 qualifier at Wembley on the same day, retailers and pubs are bracing themselves for a huge increase in sales.

British Airways reported full flights from London to Paris while many fans were also travelling to France by Eurostar train and by ferry.

Eurostar, which runs from London's Waterloo station through the Channel Tunnel to France and Belgium, has put on extra services to cope with the upturn in demand.

A Eurostar spokesman said: "We are taking around 28,000 passengers to Paris this weekend and that's about 40% up on the same weekend last year.

"There are a few seats left, but all the best-deal tickets have long gone. It's not just England fans who are travelling with us. There's a huge French ex-pat community in London and many are going over for the match."

A BA spokeswoman said: "It's hard to get a seat on our Paris flights this weekend. Paris is always a popular weekend spot and it's a particularly busy route this weekend."

With the England-Estonia football match starting at 3pm and the rugby beginning at 8pm, pubs predict that customer numbers will swell by an estimated nine million compared to a standard Saturday, with beer sales rising from 22 million pints to a predicted 30 million.

ITV1 predicts that its viewing figures for the rugby will eclipse the six million who tuned in for the previous England rugby match.

Asda is braced for its beer sales to double compared to last weekend, as fans prepare for the matches. Curry sales are already up 15% week-on-week at the chain.